Is it sexist to say there are differences between the male & female brain?

Some educationalists say that boys are more interested in computer programming and computer engineering than girls because of conditioning by parents, teachers and, perhaps, television advertisements. To be blunt, by sexism.

However, I don’t think that is the case. In my experience, I have never seen anyone try to discourage girls from learning about computing at university, college or school; they just are often not so interested in it. Computer programming appeals more to the male brain, which psychologists tell us is generally better at scientific and logical activities and worse at artistic and imaginative pursuits, whereas in general it is the other way round for the female brain. (Please note I am note saying that either type of brain is better overall, or that all men are better at science or that all women are necessarily better at creative pursuits. What I am saying is that both types of brain have their own strengths and weaknesses which mean in general that males are more drawn to, and better at, some pursuits than females. For instance, in general males will be better at computer programming, but not always – just think of Ada Lovelace whose work on designing the automatic loom means she is regarded as being the first computer programmer and, indeed, had a programming language named after her). This little anecdote from my school days illustrates the point.

It was May 1984 and the school was holding a sponsored walk on the playing fields to raise funds. We had the school computer – yes, only one in those days! – set up on a table running a program which displayed the total amount of money raised so far, updated every time a pupil passed our checkpoint. Or rather that was what it was supposed to do. We were having problems with it and, as we tried to debug the program, a small crowd of children under ten built up around the computer (a BBC Micro Model B, since you ask), watching with rapt attention. Almost every one was a boy.

Returning to the main point of this article, why are some educationalists so obsessed with politically correct dogma that they refuse to accept that there are differences between the typical male brain and the typical female brain? It just isn’t sensible from a psychological viewpoint to be forcing children to spend a lot of time and effort on something they are not interested in (obviously we should encourage and help girls who are interested in programming and building computers).

We shouldn’t be trying to make children be something they’re not.